New Orleans Business Owners Update

Some 4,000 businesses disappeared from New Orleans after Katrina. Among the casualties was Out the Box Web Productions. When its owner Jason Michael Perry spoke to FSB after Katrina, he had moved temporarily to Washington with his new - and pregnant - wife. He told us that he was eager to get back to New Orleans where he was born and raised and where his company had just won a $5.5 million, five-year web-design contract for the City of New Orleans.

Perry is still in Washington, an employee of another Web company, and Out the Box is out of business. Perry's former staff is scattered across the country and many of his former clients have disappeared. He says he can't find out what is happening with his contract with the city; his e-mails go unanswered. "I don't even have a point of contact," he laments.

Perry, now 26, says he's happy to have a regular paycheck and health insurance for his 17-month old daughter and wife, who is expecting their second child this October. But he has not forgotten Out the Box. He's doing Web design projects on the side for businesses in Washington and recently won a contract for the Palm Beach School system. For that job, he has hired a few former employees as contractors.

He thinks about re-launching Out the Box, but says he's unsure about trying again in New Orleans. Even before Katrina, building a business in the city's weak, tourist-dependent economy was difficult. "I love DC and I see the opportunity for business where there is a true economy," says Perry. Still, he makes the trip to New Orleans about once a month to visit family and friends - and to look for signs that the economy is improving. "We ultimately want to move back home," says Perry, "When I visit it feels so close to being back," he explains. "But it is not the same."